Natalie MacMaster, a Celtic fiddler from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, performed in the Hart Auditorium Feb. 11. Performing with MacMaster were band members Brad Davidge on the guitar, Allan Dewar on the piano, Miche Poullot on the drums, John Chlasson on the bass and Matt MacIsaac on the highland bagpipes, small pipes, whistle and banjo.

MacMaster, who flew out especially for the event, enjoyed performing at BYU-Idaho saying she had never had a better audience.

Early on in the performance, MacMaster introduced her next songs as jigs and invited the audience to get up and dance. About seven couples and a few cloggers took up the invitation and went down to dance behind the seats on the gym floor.

MacMaster showed the audience she could not only play the fiddle well but she could also do some clogging herself. MacMaster tapped her toes and lifted her knees to the rhythm the drummer played.

MacMaster also performed a song she wrote called “Volcanic Jig.”

“It became volcanic after these guys got a hold of it,” MacMaster said.

At the end of the performance the audience gave MacMaster and her band a standing ovation and didn’t stop clapping until they came back out on stage. When people began to sit back down to hear the encore MacMaster said, “You don’t think I’m going to let you sit down again,” and invited people to come stand up close to the stage.

Audience members were very enthusiastic about the show.

“It was the best show I have ever been to,” said Danielle Doutre, a junior from Puyallup, Wash.

MacIsaac, the banjo and bagpipe player, said he loved the audience members because “they are young and energetic.”

“It just felt like you guys get it,” MacIsaac said.

MacMaster gave birth to a baby girl in December, and this was her first performance this year. MacMaster has been performing with different bands for 15 years.

Her current band has been playing together for four years.